Read Online Her Contract (Romance) by Lara West - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Lara West
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, Adult, alpha male, Bachelor, sensual, playboy, boss, Forever Love, Single Woman, Hearts Desire, Passionate History, Personal Assistant
Ads: Link
the kitchen.
I help Dad and her unpack the bags before he ushers us out on the back patio for some homemade lemonade. Even though it’s after six o’clock, it’s still hot out, at least, seventy-eight degrees.
Taking a gulp of my ice-cold drink, I peer over at the happy couple giving each other “goo goo” eyes. “So what did you want to ask me?”
Abigail sucks in a breath – quite an odd thing for an otherwise confident woman to do – and leans across the table. “We were wondering if you could do a speech at the engagement party. Lucas is doing one for us and well, we thought it’d be lovely if you did one too.”
Lucas . Just hearing his name rubs me up the wrong way. I feel the lump rising in my throat but fight it. Not here, not now, Anna.
“Oh, really? Are you sure? I mean I’m not great at the whole public talking thing,” I reply, giving a sheepish smile.
In all honesty, I don’t want to do it. But it’s not because I’m not happy for them. I just don’t like the idea of Lucas staring at me the whole time.
“Don’t worry about that,” Dad pitches in, holding his glass of lemonade up to his lips. “The fact that you’re willing to write something and read it out is all that matters to us.”
Well, that doesn’t give me much of a choice, does it?
It looks like all eyes will be on Lucas and I come Sunday afternoon. The engagement party is being held at my old boss’s penthouse on West 56 th Street between 6 th and 7 th Avenues.
Apparently it’s worth a whopping one hundred million green ones, so I’d be lying my little ass off if I said I wasn’t a little interested in checking it out.
“Okay, if that’s what you both want. I’ll do it,” I tell them, carving out my best fake smile to cover the cloud of depression still floating over me.
After I down the rest of my lemonade, I leave the lovebirds to it and go for a run around the neighborhood.
Within minutes, I feel better.
What happened at the office today – seeing Lucas with that damn redhead – is becoming less tender to think about the faster I push myself.
And once I break out into a full-on sprint, I’m almost completely numb.
If only I could keep on running.
Forever.
Chapter 18
Lucas
Waiting for Anna to walk in is nail-biting agony. If she’d just give me a couple of minutes to explain everything before she tosses what we have out the window.
And then if she still doesn’t want to pursue a relationship… fair enough. Never being able to touch her again and stare into those misty, gray eyes would shatter me, but at least, I could live with knowing that I tried.
“So Lucas, how have your first few weeks being the director of the company been?” Uncle Sam asks, standing beside me at his home bar. He orders a whiskey on the rocks from the bartender, the same choice of poison as me.
“Productive,” I say with firmness. “The Vegas warehouse has been secured and should open within six months.” Raising my glass, I drain the amber liquid and tilt it across the bar for a refill.
“Splendid. I knew you’d make me proud, Lucas. Jack would be proud too.”
Hearing my dad’s name creates a pang in my stomach. There’s an emptiness there that I know won’t ever be filled. But that’s life. People die, and there’s not a damn thing we can do about it.
My only regret is that Dad never got to see me give up the playboy thing. He left this world thinking that his son was nothing but an ungrateful little shit.
Uncle Sam gives me a solid pat on the shoulder and then leaves the bar to mingle with his guests.
Taking my glass with me, I go and admire the view from one of the 360-degree terraces that encircle this floor. It truly is remarkable – a canvas of shadowed skyscrapers and Central Park, under a sunset sky streaked with orange and purples hues.
New York sure knows how to show off her beauty.
Just as I finish downing my third whiskey in less than an hour, I hear the applause ring out
I help Dad and her unpack the bags before he ushers us out on the back patio for some homemade lemonade. Even though it’s after six o’clock, it’s still hot out, at least, seventy-eight degrees.
Taking a gulp of my ice-cold drink, I peer over at the happy couple giving each other “goo goo” eyes. “So what did you want to ask me?”
Abigail sucks in a breath – quite an odd thing for an otherwise confident woman to do – and leans across the table. “We were wondering if you could do a speech at the engagement party. Lucas is doing one for us and well, we thought it’d be lovely if you did one too.”
Lucas . Just hearing his name rubs me up the wrong way. I feel the lump rising in my throat but fight it. Not here, not now, Anna.
“Oh, really? Are you sure? I mean I’m not great at the whole public talking thing,” I reply, giving a sheepish smile.
In all honesty, I don’t want to do it. But it’s not because I’m not happy for them. I just don’t like the idea of Lucas staring at me the whole time.
“Don’t worry about that,” Dad pitches in, holding his glass of lemonade up to his lips. “The fact that you’re willing to write something and read it out is all that matters to us.”
Well, that doesn’t give me much of a choice, does it?
It looks like all eyes will be on Lucas and I come Sunday afternoon. The engagement party is being held at my old boss’s penthouse on West 56 th Street between 6 th and 7 th Avenues.
Apparently it’s worth a whopping one hundred million green ones, so I’d be lying my little ass off if I said I wasn’t a little interested in checking it out.
“Okay, if that’s what you both want. I’ll do it,” I tell them, carving out my best fake smile to cover the cloud of depression still floating over me.
After I down the rest of my lemonade, I leave the lovebirds to it and go for a run around the neighborhood.
Within minutes, I feel better.
What happened at the office today – seeing Lucas with that damn redhead – is becoming less tender to think about the faster I push myself.
And once I break out into a full-on sprint, I’m almost completely numb.
If only I could keep on running.
Forever.
Chapter 18
Lucas
Waiting for Anna to walk in is nail-biting agony. If she’d just give me a couple of minutes to explain everything before she tosses what we have out the window.
And then if she still doesn’t want to pursue a relationship… fair enough. Never being able to touch her again and stare into those misty, gray eyes would shatter me, but at least, I could live with knowing that I tried.
“So Lucas, how have your first few weeks being the director of the company been?” Uncle Sam asks, standing beside me at his home bar. He orders a whiskey on the rocks from the bartender, the same choice of poison as me.
“Productive,” I say with firmness. “The Vegas warehouse has been secured and should open within six months.” Raising my glass, I drain the amber liquid and tilt it across the bar for a refill.
“Splendid. I knew you’d make me proud, Lucas. Jack would be proud too.”
Hearing my dad’s name creates a pang in my stomach. There’s an emptiness there that I know won’t ever be filled. But that’s life. People die, and there’s not a damn thing we can do about it.
My only regret is that Dad never got to see me give up the playboy thing. He left this world thinking that his son was nothing but an ungrateful little shit.
Uncle Sam gives me a solid pat on the shoulder and then leaves the bar to mingle with his guests.
Taking my glass with me, I go and admire the view from one of the 360-degree terraces that encircle this floor. It truly is remarkable – a canvas of shadowed skyscrapers and Central Park, under a sunset sky streaked with orange and purples hues.
New York sure knows how to show off her beauty.
Just as I finish downing my third whiskey in less than an hour, I hear the applause ring out
Similar Books
